CFP Expansion

[Auggie]

Interesting interview in the Athletic with Jim Delaney on conference expansion.

What sparked college football's realignment craze? Ex-Big Ten commissioner explains all

Delany reflects on what happened in the 1980s and '90s to spark one of college football's biggest waves of realignment.

theathletic.com

For those that do not subscribe a few key points:

• Media drove the 1st round of expansion. Notably the invention of the Big East to give ESPN programing inventory and when the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA violated the Sherman Act by price fixing and placing artificial limits on its membership through its television policy.
• Penn State was the key player that kicked off expansion. They wanted to develop an all sport East Coast league involving Pitt, West Va, Rutgers, Va Tech, and Penn State then pick off BC & Syracuse from the Big East. Gavitt/ESPN secured Syracuse and Boston College from this by inviting Pittsburgh on Nov. 18, 1981 into the Big East. It killed Paterno’s attempt.
• The next year, Penn State sought admission into the Big East. Six of the eight Big East members had to vote yes on Penn State. Basketball-only schools Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova voted no, which kept Penn State out. Its ripple effect was profound when Penn State was accepted as a Big Ten member in 1990.
• In the '90s the Big 8, SWAC, & WAC all made reactionary moves that created a lot of volatility and doomed those conferences. The B1G looked at some but at that time was not interested primarily because all but 1 SWAC was on probation during that time period and in the Big 8 foot print there is not a lot of TV sets. A lot of shuffling around in the part of the country at that time.
• The next key event was the Big 8 going to 12 teams and getting a conference title game in the late '90s. They went to the NCAA and got a requirement of 12 schools w/ 2 Divisions to hold the game. So guess what, the SEC expands to get this lucrative event followed by the ACC & B1G.

A part 2 to come.

 

[Auggie]

Delaney on ND:

How close has Notre Dame come to joining the Big Ten? ‘There was no deal to be had’

Notre Dame didn't show up to a Big Ten meeting to apply in 1899. Rumors and speculations haven't stopped ever since then.

theathletic.com

Basically talks about the history including for their intial application in 1899 they didn't send anyone to the meeting thus no invite and the Fielding Yost slight to Knute Rockne. Did hint that they were really close in 1999 and had very productive talks but it was just dropped on ND's side:

“At the end of the day, and I don’t know exactly why, they had a historic sensibility that they had been discriminated against,” Delany said. “It’s not really articulated very much, but it’s felt, I could tell you. Also, there were people, and I’m not sure they were necessarily presidents or ADs, but there were people in their governance system who felt like they would not support Notre Dame if Notre Dame gave up their independence. I can’t name names because I don’t know the names. I just know that on a couple of occasions, the discussions went pretty far, and then they just dropped. They just dropped, and there was no deal to be had. And beyond that, I can’t give you any more detail.”

 

[Auggie]

Part 2

How the Big Ten sparked a realignment avalanche: Jim Delany on adding Nebraska and more

Delany outlines the Big Ten’s 2009-10 expansion process and how it shook up multiple conferences and created more instability.

theathletic.com

Key Points

• After expansion driven by the Conference title game the next and even bigger development was the invention of the B1G Network in 2007. Fox wanted in on the quasi-monopoly ESPN had on NCAA sports and Jim Delaney then had a partner now for his brain child. A lot of folks scoffed at the idea but with Fox providing access to cable systems and production values the idea turned into a cash cow.
• ESPN was trying to keep control of NCAA sports, but the B1G basically had a 400 percent revenue increase because of the Network. They went from about $50 million a year to about $200 million a year AAV (average annual value). So that makes everybody’s eyes pop. Everybody, just like they had Rose Bowl envy, they got that network envy. The ACC was 13 years late. The SEC did fine, but they were eight years after the B1G. ESPN was paying them not to have a network, then they paid them to have a network. So they were doing fine. But ESPN lost control over pricing because the B1G was able to show that you could do it. So they had to collaborate. Otherwise, people would do it against them.
• In 2009 the B1G announced they we were looking at possibly adding a 12th team to even out the membership number and a free for all to get in on the gravy train developed. The obvious battlefield was going to be the center of the country and all of a sudden the SEC, PAC 10, and B1G started to look at schools in this area. An obvious choice emerged, Nebraska. It wasn’t a network play because there aren’t any cable networks in Nebraska. It was a brand play and a football play and a broad-based play and a geographic play. The belief was that notwithstanding it not being a cable play, it was a mega-TV play. Because Nebraska had one of the top five brands in football in the country, having won three national championships in the previous 20 years at that time.
• To answer this move The Pac-10 became the Pac-12 by adding Colorado and Mountain West power Utah. The Big 12 seemed semi-stable, but concessions given to Texas, including the Longhorn Network for third-tier rights, caused a major upheaval in 2010 and 2011. Mutual interest between Texas A&M and the SEC led to an invitation and a potential lawsuit by Baylor. Oklahoma openly lobbied for a Pac-12 invite. Missouri was caught in the crosshairs, and it became an SEC target once the league accepted Texas A&M.
• Then things went sideways out east. The Big East was crumbling. The ACC took Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College in 2005 and 2006. In 2011, the ACC invited Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The following year, the ACC reached an agreement with Notre Dame for all sports and five football games annually. The Big East added TCU, which then backed out for a Big 12 invite. West Virginia then left the Big East to replace Missouri in the Big 12. Delaney saw an opportunity.
• The best asset, B1G Network, could be used as leverage for the B1G to help beef up the declining population of the Midwest footprint. With 1.2 million alumni from Washington, D.C., to southern Connecticut and 26 million people within a 50-mile radius of New York City, the expansion added 3 percent to the Big Ten’s geography but 18 percent of its total population. While the fan intensity for Rutgers and Maryland paled when compared with Penn State or Nebraska, the volume of Big Ten fans in the northeast enabled BTN to command immediate market penetration. And revenue skyrocketed.
• A new point did come out in the column, the ACC was peesed the B1G went after and secured Maryland so they reached out to Penn State about membership. There was absolutely no interest from Penn State on the move.
• After Delaney left the Texas/OU and USC/UCLA moves happened so he no comments on those developments.
• Did mention though that things may come full circle and the other leagues may go to the courts if the B1G & SEC get too big and control too much of media rights. He doesn't see ESPN allowing the ACC schools out of their deal either, why would they do that as they got a great deal for programing inventory and with Hollywood in complete disarray reality TV, which includes sports, is the only thing that may be a money maker in the future.

 

[Auggie]

There are rumblings that an ACC program is getting ready to challenge the grant of rights. Don't think it is FSU, (who is at the forefront because they are worried about Florida zipping by them on the $ front) as they are looking at the SEC and don't want to tick off ESPN. My guess is it is Miami wanting ins on the B1G.

 

[Hammerdrill]

There are rumblings that an ACC program is getting ready to challenge the grant of rights. Don't think it is FSU, (who is at the forefront because they are worried about Florida zipping by them on the $ front) as they are looking at the SEC and don't want to tick off ESPN. My guess is it is Miami wanting ins on the B1G.

They are an AAU member, so that is a big plus.